Pentax WPi Prices, Reviews, Sales, Compare
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Pentax WPi Prices, Reviews, Sales, Compare.
Product: Pentax WPi Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
I picked this camera up about a month ago at samys.com (worthy better ticket than Amazon) and took it on a week-long slide to the Bahamas. Since I forgot to bring a decent memory card, I was little to a 256 mb card that I had in the camera, so I took all of my pix at 4mp under the medium quality setting. I found the image quality to be perfectly acceptable and got about 300 pictures and a few very short videos on the card.
Many other people have left gargantuan reviews of the camera, so I'll concentrate on the waterproof aspects. I had the camera in the water for an hour or more on each snorkel, typically twice a day, and never had any problems with water getting inside. This is about twice the recommended length of 30 minutes in the water. I don't dive, so never had the camera below 5 feet. I attached a floating key ring (available at any marine store for a couple of dollars) to the strap so that I wouldn't have to disaster about letting the camera go and having it sink to the bottom. The camera is light enough that the key ring would actually support it at the surface--I'd expected that it would simply listless it down on the trudge to the bottom. This was a nice bonus, since I could impartial leave the camera floating while I dove to the bottom to score shells. I'd recommend a closed-cell foam float instead of the hollow plastic kind, as the plastic will eventually beget up with water and lose buoyancy.
In the water, I found the camera quite easy to expend, although the buttons could have been a limited bigger. The camera seemed to struggle to focus in areas where I was shooting fish from a distance or fish that blended in with the water (like a barracuda), but the pictures came out lovely well at the demolish. Snorkelers will trace that it takes some practice to procure a narrate of a fish as the camera moves around with the smallest waves and there is unbiased enough shutter delay to beget things difficult. I found that by prefocusing (press shutter halfway and have, with a green box indicating the focused dwelling) and then waiting for the suitable moment, I got considerable better results. I couldn't scream a incompatibility in photo quality between the camera's underwater setting and the normal setting. I former the macro setting for some cessation ups on land and was quite impressed with that.
If you'd like to eye some underwater pictures for yourself, here is a link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/turgeon/sets/72057594083368500/ Remember that I faded the 4 Mpixel setting and 2 star quality setting to set aside area.
I rinsed the camera off at the extinguish of each day but did not soak it as recommended and I haven't had any misfortune or seen any signs of salt in the battery compartment. Speaking of the battery, I was a limited disappointed here. I didn't like that I had to bring a full battery charger on my vacation--would great retract that the camera ran on AAA batteries. I found battery life to be so-so. I could go about one stout day, taking lots of pictures, then editing out all the terrible ones, shooting videos, and keeping the camera on for hours at a time. But if I didn't charge it that night, it would like a flash die on the second day. The battery level indicator is useless--it goes from fat to half to listless in a matter of minutes, so withhold the battery charged and if you're going to exercise it a lot, acquire a spare. One other notice about the battery--since you have to charge it every night (out of the camera), you can't consume the camera's awe clock feature. This was an whine for me, since I don't wear a scrutinize, wasn't able to expend my cell phone in the Bahamas, and had planned on using the dread. The dismay isn't really loud enough to wake a heavy sleeper, by the diagram.
All in all, this camera does what it sets out to excellently. This is a camera for active people who want to hold estimable quality snapshots while snorkeling, playing in the rain, kayaking, etc. It's not a camera for professional photographers or divers, but it doesn't claim to be.
I've been waiting for a solid weatherproof/waterproof digital camera for quite some time now and finally decided the resolution might be sterling enough. I'd been sticking with my actual Yashica T4 Neat (non-zoom) which I've shot quite a bit in thunderstorms and other precipitation-heavy conditions and I didn't want to give up that ability unbiased to go digital.
To be upfront with it, the image quality is not the best. It's 6 megapixels, but there's a lot more to quality than having the most pixels. From a pure image quality standpoint, I'd rather have one of Canon's many offerings. Compared side-by-side with a Canon S550 (granted a more expensive camera with more pixels), the Pentax showed noise where the Canon showed weave pattern in a subject's sweater. Also, I'm archaic to shooting pro-level dSLRs so the dissimilarity in image quality was a bit of a surprise. Compared to the T4 film option I'm obsolete to, I consider I'm serene bringing my film camera for those more difficult situations because there's honest more info on the film and the lens is serene better on that camera. Also, it lacks an AF-assist light which would really relieve in dark situations.
However, and this is significant, I realize that most of the images I buy with this camera are only going to be viewed online or will not be printed larger than 4x6. I have not yet printed images from this camera, but I reflect for that print size it will probably be glorious. For web purposes, it's more than noble. The many options in image size is very handy when you know you're going to web with an image. The sunset shots I took out the airplane window, while noisy, composed have apt gradation from sad to white.
Getting help to the reason I bought this camera in the first residence, I'm very elated with its ability to function in wet conditions. I haven't taken it underwater yet, but I did shoot video with it while snowboarding and found out my skills definitely go down while trying to shoot video. But the camera kept going after being dunked in snow repeatedly. It was also snowing/raining so there was more than dry powder to deal with. The buttons, while exiguous, are spaced far enough apart that I could activate them with gloves on. The hide was plenty astronomical and legible from oblique angles while heading downhill with goggles on. Be aware, however, that the battery is physically not very sizable and therefore indecent temps have a noticable affect on battery life.
One of the best features is the green button- it can be changed to access up to four different options/settings. I utilize mine for 1.exposure compensation; 2. white balance; 3. ISO setting; and 4. green (dummy) mode. So easy to station up and very useful if you serene want some manual overrides (since there's no steady manual or priority modes, fair different program modes) . Without the green button, using the exposure compensation requires going into the menus and changing it but not seeing results until it's set- with the green button, it operates like every other camera, ie allowing you to inspect the changes as you do them.
Basically, rotten weather functionality was the priority and I was pleasantly surprised by the easy and customizable interface (you can change the order of the program modes and the camera remembers obvious custom settings, too) . I was not impressed with the image quality and it's not replacing my film p+s or dSLRs anytime soon, but it's grand for what I need it to do which is largely surviving being on the outside of my backpack or in my pocket in the rain, snow and dirt and composed be ready to catch a decent image when I turn it on.
This is one of the best purchases I've ever made. I absolutely care for this camera. It is nice and puny, shapely easy to utilize, and waterproof! Unlike other reviews that I've read here, I have taken it underwater. My whole life is water, so in only a few days of owning it it's been under plenty of times. It holds up like a champ!
I also really like the features it has. It has a obedient zoom, lots of programmed settings, movie mode, high run shutter, and the green button which allows you to be using one mode and hit one button to be in another pre-set mode. I reflect that the quality and features are comparable with a lot of cameras that cost as great or more, and it's waterproof.
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